Feeding ecology of the Okhotsk hunter-gather-fishers estimated by stable isotope analysis

Summary

Hamanaka-2 site in the Rebun Island, Hokkaido, Japan provides a good faunal assemblage made by Epi-Jomon and Okhotsk hunter-gatherer-fishers. In this study, we reconstruct feeding ecology of the Okhotsk hunter-gatherer-fishers by applying the stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to faunal and human remains from the Hamanaka-2 site. As a result of the analysis, Okhotsk humans were at the highest trophic level among the mammals, domesticated dogs indicated the similar but slightly lower isotope ratios with humans, and domesticated pigs indicated the varying isotope ratios between marine and terrestrial endpoints. Isotopic mixing model suggested that the main protein sources of the Okhotsk humans are dogs and marine mammals, those of the domesticated dogs are marine mammals and fishes, and those of the domesticated pigs are C3 terrestrial and marine food sources. Although the dogs indicated no chronological change in the isotope ratios, the carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of the pigs appeared to increase through the time. The results of this study will provide a new insight into the feeding adaptation of ancient northern hunter-gatherer-fishers to subsist in the island environment.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Investigating the Hunter-Gatherers of Lake Baikal and Hokkaido: Integrating Individual Life Histories and High-Resolution Chronologies   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14599